This application is related to Japanese Patent Applications No. 2000-96307 filed on Mar. 31, 2000, and No. 2000-317080 filed on Oct. 17, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner having inside air suction ports each of which is provided for each seat in a passenger compartment. More particularly, a forced suction blower is disposed at a downstream side of the inside air suction ports to forcibly suck inside air of the passenger compartment from the inside air suction ports in the vehicle air conditioner.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional vehicle air conditioner described in JP-A-10-6744, a rear air conditioning unit for heating or cooling a rear seat side within a passenger compartment is provided. Further, a suction port, from which air inside the passenger compartment is sucked, is provided in one of right and left rear side panels, and an air outlet, from which conditioned air of the rear air conditioning unit is blown toward the rear seat side of the passenger compartment, is provided in the other one of the right and left rear side panels. In this case, because air flows in the rear space of the passenger compartment between the right and left sides, a uniform air temperature distribution can be obtained in right and left sides on the rear seat of the passenger compartment. However, when a heat load (e.g., air amount, air temperature) at the rear right side is different from that at the rear left side, it is difficult to perform an independent air-conditioning control.
Further, in a vehicle air conditioner, only a single suction port for sucking inside air inside the passenger compartment into a rear air conditioning unit is provided, while plural cool air outlets and plural warm air outlets are provided. Therefore, when the single suction port is provided in the side panel adjacent to the third seat from a most front seat, for example, air blown toward the second seat readily flows into the third seat side. Accordingly, air cannot be sufficiently distributed to the second seat side, and an independent air-conditioning control for each seat is deteriorated.
Further, in a vehicle having a large seat movable range, when a passenger on the rear seat is placed at a position apart from a rear air outlet, it is necessary to increase an air amount blown from the air outlet. Accordingly, consumed power for performing air-conditioning operation is increased, and air-blowing noise is increased.
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle air conditioner which effectively perform an air conditioning operation desired by a passenger on each seat.
It is an another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle air conditioner which improves an independent air-conditioning control performance in each seat without increasing an air-blowing amount from air outlets.
According to the present invention, in a vehicle air conditioner, each of plural suction ports is provided for each of plural seats so that air inside the passenger compartment is sucked from the suction ports to be introduced into an air passage of an air conditioning duct of an air conditioning unit, and each of outlets is provided for each air-conditioning space of the seats in the passenger compartment so that air from the air passage of the air conditioning duct is blown toward each air-conditioning space of the seats. Accordingly, a flow of conditioned air blown toward a passenger on each seat can be effectively distributed in each seat, air-conditioning operation desired by a passenger on each seat can be effectively performed. Thus, when the air conditioning unit is constructed to independently control an air state such as a suction air amount, an air-blowing amount, an air temperature and an air-flowing direction, the independent control of the air conditioning state can be effectively performed for each air conditioning space of the seats.
Preferably, a forced suction member, for forcibly sucking air inside the passenger compartment from the suction ports into the air passage of the air conditioning duct, is disposed separately from a blower of the air conditioning unit. Therefore, plural air conditioning spaces can be effectively independently provided in the seats, respectively, and independent air-conditioning control performance can be improved in each seat without increasing the air amount blown from the air outlets.
Preferably, a seat air duct, through which air from the air conditioning unit and air from the passenger compartment can be selectively introduced into each of the seats, can be provided, the seat air duct is disposed to be integrated with each of the seats, and the forced suction member is a seat blower which is disposed in the seat air duct so that air introduced into the seat air duct is blown from a seat surface. Accordingly, air sucked from the suction ports can be blown from the seat surface of each seat, while the independent air-conditioning control performance of each air conditioning space of the seats is improved.
More preferably, a blower control unit controls operation of a forced suction blower in accordance with one of each passenger""s operation and a blower control characteristic, and the blower control unit controls an air amount sucked from each of the suction ports due to the operation of the forced suction blower in accordance with at least one of an air temperature and an air amount blown from an air outlet which is selected from a passenger""s seated position. Therefore, an air amount sucked from each of the suction ports can be suitably set.
On the other hand, the blower control unit controls the air amount sucked from the suction ports to become larger than a predetermined amount in an air outlet mode where air is mainly blown toward an upper side of each seat, and the blower control unit controls the air amount sucked from the suction ports to become smaller than the predetermined amount in an air outlet mode where air is mainly blown toward a lower side of each seat. Therefore, air conditioning feeling for a passenger in each seat can be improved.